Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 12 Attacked
At about [-]:[-] on the fifth day of March, that is, before noon arrives.

Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty Zhu Youjian officially left Beijing.

If you don't count that night, he went out of Qihuamen to meet Zhou Yuji and others.

This emperor should be leaving Beijing for the first time in his life.

The bright spring scenery makes the world outside Beijing colorful.

However, Zhu Youjian couldn't show any joy at this moment.

He is just an ordinary Dongchang manager and criminal hundred households now.

Except for Wang Chengen and a few reliable people from Dongchang, no one knew that there was no one in the big yellow car at this time.

But the real Emperor is riding a horse, holding the Xiuchun knife, looking left and right like a falcon.

Even the officials didn't notice, they are all following behind now, only knowing that His Majesty is in front.

Because all the luggage had already set off yesterday, the evacuation speed of Zhu Youjian's retreating team was not slow.

After walking for an hour, according to the report from the outpost, it was not far from Tongzhou.

However, when Zhu Youjian ordered to rest for a while, he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes coming from the forest on one side.

Suddenly, dozens of thieves wearing red scarves came galloping on horseback, and like sharp arrows, they shot straight at the yellow cart in the middle, which was the emperor's car.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuji hurriedly shouted: "Protect Your Majesty!"

The cavalry guards on both sides quickly surrounded the emperor's car, and Wang Chengen and Zhu Youjian were also wrapped in it.

"Don't let Chongzhen go!"

At this time, a thief cavalry shouted loudly, and threw an iron ball the size of a grapefruit towards the yellow cart.

At the same time, other thieves were also throwing iron balls.

The yellow cart was instantly exploded.

However, fortunately, this is a solid iron bullet, not a flowering bullet, so there is no air wave.

But Wang Chengen still jumped to the yellow cart and blocked Zhu Youjian on the grounds of saving the driver.

"It's a trick!" Seeing that there was no one in the yellow cart, the thief hurriedly withdrew. Zhou Yuji immediately shot it with a bow and arrow, and Ben himself led the cavalry to pursue it.

But Zhu Youjian stopped Zhou Yuji: "Don't chase the poor, our top priority is to reach Tongzhou as soon as possible."

"Yes!" Zhou Yuji replied, and sent a few more sentry cavalry to guard along the way. He dared not let such a sudden attack happen again.

Zhu Youjian's face sank like water.

He could have expected that Li Zicheng's internal response must have appeared near the capital at this time.

Therefore, he was not surprised by this sudden attack.

Of course, he didn't feel the need to pursue it, after all, the most important thing for him now was to evacuate here as soon as possible.

Get out of this danger zone.

So he stopped Zhou Yuji.

But Zhu Youjian also felt something was wrong.

The thieves with dozens of cavalry were not a small force, and they were able to evade Zhou Yuji's sentry cavalry cleverly. If they hadn't changed their positions in advance, they would have almost succeeded in attacking.

This shows that this group of bandit cavalry is Li Zicheng's elite.

In other words, Li Zicheng's army was not far from the capital, and a large number of sentry cavalry had already appeared in Gyeonggi, and they learned about his evacuation from the capital from Nei Ying's mouth and tried to stop him.

Even, it cannot be ruled out that there is also Li Zicheng's internal support in the team that he evacuated.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help clenching the Xiuchun knife in his hand.

When the officials saw the yellow cart being smashed, their faces turned pale with fright, and someone even shouted directly: "Your Majesty!"

But they regained their composure when they saw that there was no one in the big yellow car.

Empress Zhou and Concubine Yuan Gui also lowered the car curtain and let out a long sigh.

However, at this time, there was another hurried sound of horseshoes.

Zhou Yuji didn't dare to take it lightly anymore, so he drew out his saber and rode his horse to guard Zhu Youjian and Wang Chengen himself.

The others also drew their knives, ready at any time.

Before evacuating the capital, Zhu Youjian ordered a sword to be distributed to everyone who evacuated with him, so at this time, even Queen Zhou and Concubine Yuan Gui also drew their swords.

The bright cold light is extremely dazzling under the sunlight.

The whole air is also stagnant.

Mrs. Liu held her breath and watched her left and right. The spear in her hand lightly drew an arc on the ground, until the bluestone slabs on the official road made a crackling sound.

Zhou Yuji gave him a wink, and ten riders followed the sound with scimitars.

Fortunately, only the sentry cavalry on his side appeared.

"Report! Datong's commander-in-chief, Jiang Guan, defected to the enemy, and Datong fell!"

"Report! The chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion, Bai Guangen, defected to the enemy, and the Xuan Mansion fell!"

Zhu Youjian and the accompanying officials couldn't help but turn pale with shock when they heard this!

"Your Majesty, if Datong and Xuanfu are lost, it means that there are no two barriers in the capital. If Juyongguan falls again, the army of intruders will only need three days to resist the capital!"

Li Banghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, came to Wang Chengen, nominally talking to Wang Chengen, but discussing the military situation with Zhu Youjian.

The people in the entourage were originally undecided because they had just experienced an attack, but now they suddenly heard that the Datong Xuan Mansion had fallen, and they panicked.

A doctor named Liu Tingjian, the doctor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was so frightened that he wanted to flee here.

Seeing this, the other entourage also ran away alone.

Seeing that the scene was about to become chaotic, Zhu Youjian directly ordered: "Zhou Yuji, this person dares to disturb the morale of the army, kill him!"

"According to the order!"

However, before Zhou Yuji had time to set up his bow and shoot an arrow, he heard a scream from behind.

Zhu Youjian looked back, but saw that Liu Tingjian had been killed on the ground, and the person who killed him was Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui.

I saw Li Mingrui pulled out his bloody long sword, and stumbled back: "You are a minister of the Ming Dynasty. How dare you leave your Majesty at this time of crisis? Don't blame me, Li, for being ruthless!"

Li Mingrui couldn't help shouting loudly as he spoke: "Is there anyone else to leave!"

All the attendants were frightened by it and did not dare to say any more, and silently returned to their ranks.

After seeing it, Zhu Youjian also had a good impression of Li Mingrui in his heart. He didn't expect that as a civil servant, he would have such courage at such a time, and he would directly kill a fifth-rank doctor in order to stabilize the order.

However, after Zhu Youjian and others continued to march for half an hour, another sentry came to report.

"Report! Yanghe falls!"

"Report! Changping has fallen! The intruders have arrived at Juyongguan!"

"Report! Tang Tong, the commander of Juyongguan, defected to the enemy!"

"Report! Bandits have occupied the imperial tombs, and the Twelve Emperors' Tombs have been destroyed!"

……

"What, Juyongguan fell!"

Juyongguan is the last barrier of the capital.

Therefore, as soon as the news of the fall of Juyongguan came, it exploded in the crowd like a thunderbolt.

Immediately, someone panicked again, but because the head of Liu Tingjian, the doctor of kaogongsi, was still hanging on the yellow cart.

Plus Li Mingrui's bloody sword.

Therefore, no one dared to act rashly.

But Fan Jingwen, Wu Sheng, and Li Jiantai and other cabinet ministers and ministers all gathered towards Zhu Youjian.

"Your Majesty, from this point of view, it will not take a day for the bandits to reach the capital," Li Banghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, spoke first.

Zhu Youjian was also a little worried.

Li Zicheng has already arrived at the Twelve Tombs, and even destroyed Zhu's ancestral tomb, these are nothing, after all, it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years.

The key now is that since Li Zicheng has arrived at the Twelve Tombs, judging from the fact that the news will be delayed, it means that Li Zicheng's army may have arrived in the capital now.

It can almost be said that he left the capital on the front foot, and Li Zicheng's army arrived in the capital on the back foot.

"How far are we from Tongzhou?"

Although Zhu Youjian was worried, but now, as the emperor and the backbone of everyone, he could only force himself to be calm.

Fan Jingwen hurriedly replied: "Half an hour!"

"Tell me, will Li Zicheng divide his troops to take the grain of Tongzhou, and will Li Zicheng's army encounter us here!"

Zhu You didn't wait for these ministers to answer after the questioning, so he ordered directly: "Send the order, stop the halfway rest arrangement, and run forward immediately!"

As soon as Zhu Youjian said that, he hit his horse and left.

The rest of the people also hurriedly followed.

The rest of the attendants also knew that the situation was critical, so they couldn't care less about being tired, so they quickly spread their legs and started running.

Not long after Zhu Youjian's team ran away, another sentry came to report that about [-] bandit troops were divided into Tongzhou, and it was less than an hour away from Tongzhou!
(End of this chapter)